F1, now Ferrari must also watch their backs against Mercedes

It now seems to have erased, at least in terms of results, the large gap in favor of the Reds.

It should have been – at least these were the assumptions at the beginning of the year, with good feedback from the first seasonal GPs – the season of the world title fight for the Scuderia of Maranello. The F1-75 was the brightest car on the track: certainly more competitive than Mercedes, which appeared to be in clear trouble despite the presence of a champion like Lewis Hamilton.

Errors in strategy and some carelessness of the pits led, come the summer break, to a situation almost unthinkable until a few weeks ago. Both in the drivers’ and constructors’ classifca. Charles Leclerc (178 points) accuses a delay of a good 80 points from the world leader, Max Vertsappen . Instead, 97 are the lengths that divide Ferrari and Red Bull in the constructors’ standings. The decline of the Reds, however, appears even more evident when compared with the realtivo figure for Mercedes, which is now only 30 points behind the Reds, adding the placings of Russell and Hamilton (304 points).

With George Russell (158 points) only 20 lengths behind the Monegasque Ferrarista, and the Stevenage native at 146, it may already be time to put the dreams of a world title back in the drawer: at present it seems more realistic to watch the backs of the Silver Arrows than to think of recovering a now abysmal gap from the cars of Verstappen and Sergio Perez.